The present invention relates to the field of pizzas and pizza toppings. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for assembling pizza ingredients to form pizzas.
The preparation and cooking of pizzas in the food industry requires numerous labor intensive steps. For example, pizza dough is prepared and formed into a shell. Also, the cheese and pizza toppings are applied to the shell one at a time. In addition, in a pizza restaurant delivery and/or carryout business each ingredient that is added as a topping is typically measured or weighed to insure uniformity of the finished product. Naturally, these several steps add to the cost and the time it takes to prepare the products.
Assuring uniformity of pizzas made by different employees can also be a challenge for the pizza restaurant, delivery, and/or carryout business. In addition, lack of uniformity affects cost control. Even small additional amounts of ingredients over the specified quantity add up over time to large additional expenses for a pizza restaurant delivery, and/or carryout business.
Products and methods have been developed attempting to reduce the cost and increase the speed and uniformity of preparing pizzas.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,349 to Caiello discloses a pizza and method that includes using up to four geometrically congruent slices of pizza cheese having apertures. The slices are arranged to form one layer to cover the pizza shell.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,769 to McKee discloses a pizza coating product containing a water-soluble algin, preferably for use with a frozen pizza. The water-soluble algin is applied to the surface of the pizza dough that forms the pizza crust prior to the addition of any toppings or tomato sauce.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,8I5 to Kielsmeier, et al., discloses a method of preparing and quick freezing cheese in granular form to maintain granule moisture. The cheese granules are then baked on the pizza in a frozen or partially frozen condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,431 to Giordano, et al., discloses a method of making a double-layered pizza product. The method disclosed uses two layers of pastry dough with traditional pizza toppings placed in between the pastry layers before baking the pizza.